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"So, they&039;re not going to whip you or anything, right?" I asked, trying to sound as if I were joking "After all, it&039;s not like he died" Just lost a big chunk of his life andable to inform his family that he&039;d survived

"Some of them would whip me if they could But that&039;s not hoitches roll" A "As a penalty, I&039;ve got to do, like, co kids?"

"Wellredients so they&039;re ready to hand Working extra hours in thechickens for rituals every now and then Doing a lot of legwork Without pay"

"That sucks," I said, because rown up rich, but I had not If soet pissed off I had a fleeting ht have had in it, and I blessed her for thinking of me

"Yeah, well, Katrina wiped the New Orleans covens out We lost soet their contributions anymore, and I never use my dad&039;s money for the coven"

"So, the bottootta stay down here I don&039;t know if I&039;ll ever make it back to Bon Temps And I&039; with you"

"Same here" I took a deep breath, determined not to sound forlorn "What about your stuff? Not that there&039;s that much here, but still"

"I&039;ll leave it there for now I&039;ve got everything here I need, and the rest is yours to use as you see fit till I can et it"

We talked a bit ot to ask her if Octavia had found a way to dissolve Eric&039;s blood bond with me Possibly I wasn&039;t very interested in an answer I hung up, feeling both sad and glad: glad that A off her debt to her coven and that she was happier than she&039;d been in Bon Temps after Tray&039;s death, and sad because I understood she didn&039;t expect to return After a moment of silent farewell to her, I went to the kitchen to tell Claude that the upstairs was all his

After I&039;d absorbed his gratified smile, I moved on to another issue I didn&039;t kno to approach my question, so finally I simply asked him "Have you been out in my woods back of the house?"

His face went absolutely blank

"Why would I do that?" he said

"I didn&039;t ask for your motivation I asked if you had been there" I know evasion when I hear it

"No," he said

"That&039;s bad news"

"Why?"

"Because the Weres tell me a fairy&039;s been back there very recently" I kept my eyes fixed on his "And if it&039;s not you, who could it be?"

"There aren&039;t ain, evasion "If there are other fairies that didn&039;taround with them," I said "You wouldn&039;t need to stay with me, with my little dash of fairy blood Yet here you are And somewhere in my woods is yet another fairy" I eyed his expression "I don&039;t see you excited about tracking dohoever it is What&039;s the deal? Why don&039;t you dash out there, find the fairy, do so, and be happy?"

Claude looked down "The last portal to close was in your woods," he said "Possibly it&039;s not coreat-uncle, was on the outside If Derlad to see ht there

That was plenty of bad news, and another whopping dollop of dodging the issue I was still dubious about his goals, but Claude was faht," I said, opening a kitchen drahere I stowed odds and ends "Here&039;s a key We&039;ll see how this pans out I have to go to work this afternoon, by the way And we have to have a talk You know that I&039;ve got a boyfriend, right?" I was already feeling kind of e?" Claude asked, with a sort of professional interest

"Ah, wellEric North and cautious "Does Eric spend the night? I need to know if he&039;s going to juh that wouldn&039;t be totally unwelcome But the pertinent issue was that fairies are really intoxicating to vampires, like catnip to cats Eric would have a hard ti if Claude was close to him

"That would probably end badly for you," I said "But I think, with a little care, we can get around it" Eric seldoht at my house because he liked to be back in Shreveport before dawn He had so ht that he&039;d found it was better for him to wake up in Shreveport I do have a hidden place where a vampire can stay in relative safety, but it&039;s not exactly deluxe, not like Eric&039;s house

I was a little e men back to my house I didn&039;t want to encounter someone I didn&039;t knohen I was on htie Auests, but they&039;d been people I knew I took a deep breath, hoping what I was about to say wouldn&039;t come out homophobic "Claude, it&039;s not that I don&039;t want you to have a good ti this conversation were over and done with I ad acceptance of the fact that I had a sex life, and I only wished I could match that nonchalance

"If I want to have sex with someone you don&039;t know, I&039;ll take him to my house in Monroe," Claude said, with a wicked little smile He could be perceptive when he chose, I noted "Or I&039;ll let you know ahead of time That okay?"

"Sure," I said, surprised at Claude&039;s easy coht words I relaxed soave him some tips on the washer and the dryer, and told him the hall bathroom was all his Then I led hi one of the little bedroo room She&039;d taken her laptop with her, but the TV was still there I checked to make sure that the bed was made up with clean linens and the closet wasI pointed out the door to the walk-in attic, in case he needed to store anything Claude pulled it open and took a step inside He looked around at the shadowy, crowded space Generations of Stackhouses had stored things they thought they ht need someday, and I admit it was a little on the cluttered and chaotic side

"You need to go through this," he said "Do you even knohat&039;s up here?"

"Fa in with some dismay I&039;d just never worked up the heart to tackle it since Gran died

"I&039;ll help you," Claude declared "That will be my payment to you for iven ain, that he was fah I don&039;t know if I&039;h they were definitely better than they&039;d been "And there are some other jobs around the house that are beyonda hand"

He bowed "I would be delighted," he said

This was a different side of Claude froe

Grief and loneliness see in the beautiful fairy; he appeared to have come to the realization that he had to show a little kindness to other people if he wanted to receive kindness in return Claude seemed to understand that he needed others, especially now that his sisters were gone

I was a little ement by the ti around upstairs for a while, and then he&039;d coe in the bathroom I&039;d already put out clean towels for him He seemed satisfied with the bathroom, which was very old-fashioned But then Claude had been alive in a ti, so maybe he saw it fro so deep inside me, a tension I hadn&039;t even known I felt

"Hey, Sam," I said He was behind the bar when I came out of the back room, where I&039;d left my purse and put on an apron Merlotte&039;s wasn&039;t very busy Holly, as always, was talking to her Hoyt, as dawdling over his supper With her Merlotte&039;s T-shirt, Holly earing pink and green plaid shorts instead of the regulation black

"Looking good, Holly," I called, and she gave me a radiant smile While Hoyt bea

I let out a shriek and hugged her "Oh, this is so great!" I said "Holly, it&039;s so pretty! So, have you picked a date yet?"

"It&039;ll be in the fall, probably," Holly said "Hoyt has to work long hours through the spring and suured maybe October or Nove and his face growing soleoing to ask hilanced very quickly over to Holly, who&039;d never been a big Jason fan She was still s, and if I could detect the reservations she had, Hoyt couldn&039;t

I said, "He&039;ll be thrilled"

I had to hustle off to make the rounds of my tables, but I smiled while I worked I wondered if they&039;d have the cerereat! That would transfored" to "Sookie who brought the gorgeous guy to the wedding" Then I thought of a contingency plan If the wedding was a daytio with me! He looked exactly like a romance cover model He&039;d been a romance cover ton&039;s Naughty Marriage? Woo-hoo!)

I was unhappily aware that I was thinking about the wedding strictly in terI realize that it&039;s silly to feel like you&039;re on the shelf at twenty-seven But I had ly conscious of that fact So otten nant - like Tara, as coave a wave to let her know I&039;d coot an iced tea for Dr Linda Tonnesen and a Michelob for Jesse Wayne Cuive her a neck hug She had plunked herself down at a table

"I need some caffeine-free Diet Coke," she said "And I need a cheeseburger With lots of French-fried pickles" She looked ferocious

"Sure," I said "I&039;ll get the Coke and put in your order right now"

When I returned, she drank the whole glass "I&039;ll be sorry in five o to the bathroos under her eyes, and her conancy that I&039;d heard so o?"

"Three ave you a due date!"

"JB just can&039;t believe how big I&039;," Tara said, with an eye roll

"He said that? In those words?"

"Yep Yes He did"

"Geez Louise That boy needs a lesson or two in rephrasing"

"I&039;d settle for hi hisbrains weren&039;t his strong suit, and she was reaping the result, but I so wanted them to be happy I couldn&039;t be all, "You otta lie in it"

"He loves you," I said, trying to sound soothing "He&039;s just "

"JB," she said She shrugged and summoned up a smile

Then Antoine called that my order was up, and the avid expression on Tara&039;s face told me that she was more focused on the food than on her husband&039;s tactlessness She returned to Tara&039;s Togs a happier and fuller woman

As soon as it was dark, I called Eric on my cell while I was in the ladies&039; room I hated to sneak off on Sam&039;s time to call my boyfriend, but I needed the support Now that I had his cell nutasia, which was both bad and good I&039;d never knoas going to answer the phone, and I&039; Eric&039;s va to Pam, Eric&039;s second-in-command Pam and I are actually almost friends

"I am here, my lover," Eric said It was hard not to shiver when I heard his voice, but the atmosphere of the ladies&039; room in Merlotte&039;s was not at all conducive to lust

"Well, I&039;m here, too, obviously Listen, I really need to talk to you," I said "Sos have coood reason"

"I have ain thirty minutes with Victor," Eric said "You kno tense that&039;s likely to be"

"I do know And I&039;m sorry to pester you witha good boyfriend is listening"

"Your boyfriend," he said "That soundsstrange I am so not a boy"

"Foof, Eric!" I was exasperated "I don&039;t want to stand here in the bathrooy! What&039;s the botto to have free tihed "Yes, for you Can you drive over here? Wait, I&039;ll send Pam for you She&039;ll be at your house at one o&039;clock, all right?"

I et home by then, but it was doable "Okay And warn Pa, hear?"

"Oh, certainly, I&039;ll be glad to pass that very specific ood-bye, likeday